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Under the sea and where maybe the grass is greener in the latest science fiction books

AG

By Alex Good

Fri., Jan. 12, 2018timer3 min. read

Semiosis

By Sue Burke(Tor, $36.99, 336 pages)

It’s sometimes been said that the most well adapted form of life on Earth is grass (or Poaceae). Covering everything from lawns to wheat fields to savannahs, grass is dominant both because it’s hardy and because people invest much time, money and effort in taking care of it.

Could grass have been planning this global takeover all along? Semiosis, the fascinating debut novel from Sue Burke, makes you wonder.

The story begins with a small group of settlers arriving on a habitable planet they name Pax. The life forms native to Pax are exotic but comparable to life on Earth, with one of the big differences being that plant life is sentient. In particular, a colourful form of bamboo dubbed Stevland is revealed to be highly intelligent.

As the settler community adapts to life on Pax they enter into a co-operative relationship with Stevland, which leads to some interesting observations on the building of complex social systems from the ground up and the dangers of trying to direct the process of evolution.

Senlin Ascends

By Josiah Bancroft(Orbit, $20.99, 448 pages)

This new edition of Senlin Ascends marks the major release of a book self-published several years ago that took off through word of mouth. A wider audience now gets to see what all the fuss has been about.

They should be impressed, as this is fantasy storytelling of a high order. The first volume of the Books of Babel, Senlin Ascends introduces readers to the giant structure that gives the series its name. An unworldly provincial schoolteacher named Thomas Senlin has brought his beautiful new wife Marya to the famous Tower of Babel for their honeymoon. Almost immediately, however, Marya goes missing, and Senlin is forced to climb the tower in pursuit.

The basic idea, building on various literary archetypes, is that each level of the tower is an entire city unto itself known as a “ringdom,” with its own unique political system and bizarre cultural practices. This gives the book an episodic flavour, with Senlin facing a series of trials, from the comic to the terrifying, as he ascends toward a kind of redemption.

One of Us Will Be Dead by Morning

By David Moody(St. Martin’s Press, $33.99, 330 pages)

Only one of us will be dead by morning? That’s a relief, given this book marks the start of a second trilogy set in British author David Moody’s low-survival-rate “Hater” universe.

The premise behind the Hater novels is that, for some unknown reason, a certain segment of the population (the Haters) have turned into homicidal furies, indiscriminately killing everyone who has not been so transformed (the Unchanged). In short, what we have here is yet another take on the popular zombie apocalypse genre, only one where there’s even less of a difference between us and them.

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The action takes place on a barren island in the North Sea where a corporate retreat is being held. When a boat filled with murdered children washes ashore everything promptly goes to hell, and soon we’re caught in the end-of-the-world mudslide of Moody’s nightmarish brand of blood and brutality.

While not for everyone, it serves up primitive but effective entertainment for those who have pretty much given up on the human race. Which seems to be a lot of us these days.

Nemo Rising

By C. Courtney Joyner(Tor, $36.50, 368 pages)

Jules Verne’s classic novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is nearly 150 years old, which means it’s about time for a reboot.

Nemo Rising begins with the mysterious captain chained in a dungeon and awaiting execution. A series of attacks by sea monsters in international waters, however, forces President Grant to order his release. Reunited with his steampunk submarine the Nautilus, Nemo, along with a patchwork crew, is soon off monster-hunting, and trying to prevent the outbreak of a world war.

C. Courtney Joyner has a background in screenwriting and Nemo Rising was a project originally pitched as a screenplay (he even includes a scene from the screenplay in an appendix, taking us “from script to novel and back again”). So in terms of the novel itself you can expect a lot of CGI-style action and rapid-fire scene breaks for an experience that’s a lot like reading a summer blockbuster movie.

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